Fort Lupton Re-8 School District Superintendent Alan Kaylor is apparently sticking around months after submitting his resignation amid concerns he violated district protocol by promoting and giving raises to two district secretaries.

Kaylor has remained quiet on the topic, refusing to return numerous phone calls from The Tribune in the weeks before and after a Sept. 25 school board meeting that featured talk of Kaylor's resignation, an executive session and 100 Kaylor supporters.

A Tribune open records request, as well as calls with current and former school board members, has revealed internal questions over a couple of Kaylor's hiring decisions, as well as a resignation letter Kaylor submitted Sept. 19.

School board president Carol McDermott said the letter of resignation, which indicates Kaylor's last day at the district would be Nov. 10, is no longer in effect.

McDermott said the decision is essentially a vote of confidence in Kaylor.

Although McDermott said she wouldn't get into other issues involving Kaylor's work as superintendent, she did confirm at least one issue has to do with his unilaterally promoting two secretaries to newly created finance department positions and the generous raises that went along with those appointments. One was given a 25 percent raise, while the other was given a 10 percent raise, according to emails obtained through a Colorado Open Records Act request.

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The positions weren't posted publicly, and in a Sept. 14 email, McDermott questioned the process, including whether Assistant Superintendent BJ Buchmann knew about it. Buchmann sent an email to McDermott, Kaylor and others saying the two employees' new compensation would be rescinded. McDermott, however, said raises, totaling $13,000 combined per year for the two employees, would remain.

The process appears to have come in conflict with the district's protocols for hiring in a number of areas, including the position not being posted publicly and rules against raises of more than 6 percent for classified employees who receive promotions within the district.

There are no details in Kaylor's letter of resignation, which the district initially refused to release. But he submitted it Sept. 19, just two business days after Buchmann's email related to canceling the employees' raises.

This is the latest in a string of issues related to the Fort Lupton School District, and the superintendent position specifically.

Former board member Troy Boscia said the hubbub around Kaylor, whom the school board selected as superintendent in January 2016, comes down to board micromanagement.

"The biggest issue is he felt like his hands were tied because every time he tried to do something, he was met with resistance," Boscia said, pointing specifically to McDermott and board secretary Heather Taylor. Boscia resigned from the board Aug. 28, his second resignation from the school board in the past two years.

Resident Rosalie Martinez is considered instrumental in getting Kaylor, the former Fort Lupton High School principal, hired as superintendent. She gathered more than 250 signatures to get former Superintendent Mark Payler fired. Now, Martinez is campaigning for new school board members to boost Kaylor's support base.

"We must have a new board that can work together with the current superintendent," Martinez said. "I have never seen a board that has so entirely questioned or assumed the running (of the district) in a way I feel is way beyond their scope."

Board member Janice Wilkin said she has confidence Kaylor can run the district.

"With elections coming up in November, and new board members coming on, hopefully we will have some resolutions we couldn't come up with before," Wilkin said.

For her part, McDermott disagreed with the public narrative about the school board.

"The only thing that our board has requested is that the superintendent's contract be adhered to as it states," McDermott said. "What his duties are; how he's to go about doing things. We're not trying to handcuff him. We just want to know what's happening."

— Tyler Silvy covers government and politics for The Greeley Tribune. Reach him at tsilvy@greeleytribune.com. Connect with him at Facebook.com/TylerSilvy or @TylerSilvy on Twitter.

School board turnover?

The Fort Lupton Re-8 School Board has six open seats up for election this November, two left vacant by a board members’ resignations, and three contested races:

» There are no candidates for District A.

» Leonard Krise is running unopposed in District B.

» Ryane Adame is running against incumbent Jancie Wilkin in District C.

» Gabriel Saucedo is running against incumbent Heather Taylor in District D.